Four Points for Victory
DVRodriguez2024-04-11T19:54:11-04:00Palms symbolize Christ's victory. By His passion and death He conquered satan, sin and death. Here are four points to help keep His passion and death in our mind and heart.
Christ’s Passion and Our Lady
DVRodriguez2024-04-01T10:24:02-04:00Christ's Passion and Death is what saves us. These final two weeks of Lent – Passiontide – are privileged weeks. The Church calls us to reflect upon Our Lord's Passion and the unique role fulfilled by the Holy Mother of God. No exercise is more profitable for our sanctification. St. Bonaventure, St. John Eudes, St. Bridget of Sweden, Ven. Maria of Agreda and the benedictine monk John Lydgate serve as helpful guides.
Good Friday Prayer for the Jews
DVR Fatima2024-03-25T11:19:24-04:00Let us pray also for the perfidious Jews: that our God and Lord would remove the veil from their hearts; that they also may acknowledge our Lord Jesus Christ. 'Amen' is not responded, nor is said 'Let us Pray', or 'Let us kneel', or 'Arise', but immediately is said: AImighty and everlasting God, who drivest not away from Thy mercy even the perfidious Jews: hear our prayers, which we offer for the blindness of that people; that, acknowledging the light of Thy truth, which is Christ, they may be rescued from their darkness. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our [...]
Constantly Called to Faith
DVRodriguez2024-03-23T08:02:26-04:00You that have been in sorrow, exult! These are words a soul hears upon entering Heaven. The only thing that truly matters is that you save your soul. Faith and humility are necessary to save your soul. Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are the best spiritual weapons to fight against sin and to be receptive to grace. He who does not employ these arms will surely be lost. Do not receive God's grace in vain! Make good use of it to get to Heaven.
Spiritual Communion
DVRodriguez2024-03-22T15:52:33-04:00My Jesus, I firmly believe that Thou art present — Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity — in the Blessed Sacrament of the altar. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. Lord, increase my faith. [pause] I love Thee above all things and desire Thee in my soul. Yet my love is weak and inconstant, strengthen my love evermore. [pause] Since I cannot now receive Thee under the sacramental veil, I beseech Thee, with a heart full of love and longing, to come spiritually into my soul. [pause] As though Thou wert already there, I embrace Thee and unite myself wholly to Thee; [...]
Vanity of Vanities
DVRodriguez2024-03-20T22:55:46-04:00Learn from The Imitation of Christ. Seek the Kingdom of Heaven through contempt of the world. Everything in this world is passing; the ashes remind us of this. Nothing in this world can compare with God's grace. So, what must you change so that you can grow in God's grace and get to Heaven? Fix your gaze upon the Crucifix. May Christ Crucified be the last thing you see before you fall asleep.
Reflect Upon the Gravity of Your Sin
DVRodriguez2024-03-13T06:27:34-04:00Fix your gaze on Jesus. Behold Him that you may love and imitate Him. Lent is a time to leave the world behind and contemplate divine things. Embrace the cross (sufferings, trials and difficulties) for love of God, in reparation for sin, and in preparation for a happy eternity. Lent is a time to seriously reflect on your sin from a heavenly perspective. Sin is the source of ALL the evils and misfortunes that cover the earth. Recognize the gravity of sin and do not think, "Well everybody does it." Receive not the grace of God in vain! He is even [...]
Special Lenten Graces
DVRodriguez2024-03-13T06:12:34-04:00Lent [1] makes us aware of our obligation to do penance throughout our lives, [2] calls us to imitate Our Lord's fast, and [3] prepares us to celebrate Easter in a holy and worthy manner. God makes special graces available during Lent, including the grace of conversion. So do not live this season as it were just any other time. Look to the example of St. Francis of Assisi and contemplate divine realities. During Lent – by means of prayer, fasting and almsgiving – focus on the importance of grace, sin, and eternity. If you do not use these means to [...]
My Crucified Jesus
DVR Fatima2024-03-08T10:32:08-05:00From a sermon given on Passion Sunday My Crucified Jesus, I devoutly kiss and adore the most holy Wound of Thy right hand, and pray Thee to bless my soul, and after death to open to me the gates of Heaven. Glory be to the Father . .. My Crucified Jesus, I devoutly kiss and adore the most holy Wound of Thy left hand, and pray Thee to deliver me from all evil, whether of the body or of the soul, and most especially from the unhappy fate of the wicked who shall stand at The left hand at the Day [...]
Purpose of Lent and Ashes
DVRodriguez2024-03-07T17:36:17-05:00Four Short Daily Sermons from the Start of Lent Ashes remind us that we will die. Lent is a time to do penance that purifies us and brings us into closer union with God. It is a privileged time of grace when we must hear and heed the divine call to works of mercy.